Memories Of The Colour Crimson
by rol-sa
Summary: It's been a year since Vegnagun was destroyed, but Paine still has issues to deal with and Yuna's helpfull attitude towards life is only going to throw her in at the deep end.
1. Helpfull by nature

A/N: My first final fantasy X-2 story, I hope everyone will enjoy. Before you get too into it I just want to say I'm still not entirely sure about the direction this will take or how often I'll be able to update it, just so you know.

Re-writing the first two chapters to see if I can get back into the swing of this story again. I'm also playing ffx-2 again to try and help with character personalities.

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Disclaimer: (For the whole story) any characters/ resemblances from FFX-2 or any other FF game are the property of their respective owners.

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"I'm telling you Yuna this is a pointless exercise, let Gippal do his own digging if he wants these machina parts so badly." Paine spoke in a cold tone as she crossed her arms over her chest. Rikku hunched her shoulders forwards and shuffled her feet rapidly in frustration.

"Come on Yunie it'll be fun!" She stuck her tongue out at Paine as she paused between sentences, "We could always leave you in Gippal's hands while we go dig with Nooj or Baralai."

"No!" Was Paine's quick and immediate response as Rikku attempted to tease her.

"Oooo, I wanna know what happened on that 'trip' of yours."

"Rikku, I'm warning you." Her tone was threatening and the smaller girl cowered behind Yuna. "I thought we had an understanding about this." She stated in a firm tone.

"So erm . . . . Did I loose points this time?" She asked while peeping over Yuna's shoulder. Paine seemed to ignore her question and began walking back to the Celsius. She turned back to look at the pair causing Rikku to cower behind Yuna even more.

"Yuna you promised we'd help him, let's get this over with."

"Yeah the quicker we get there the quicker we can leave again." Tidus said as he stood on the boarding platform of the Celsius beckoning the three over.

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_It's strange I thought that after we defeated Vegnagun we would all split and become lost from one another in the eternal calm. Instead I find myself standing on the Celsius once more with Buddy, Brother and Shinra; trying to understand how Yuna could have gotten us all dragged into helping look for some rare machina parts._

"So basically we should be able to find the parts with the spherescope." Shinra's words awoke Paine from her daydream, she had always enjoyed learning new things about machina and spheres and Shinra was defiantly the man, err boy, to talk to about it all. She stared down at the panel and all the strange Al Bhed characters, some of which she still didn't understand.

"Still don't understand them all?" Shinra asked as though he had been reading her mind. She smiled despite herself.

"Not all of them."

"Why don't I talk you through them." Shinra offered Paine nodded in response. She briefly recalled the first time she heard al Bhed, Gippal spoke to her in it the first time they met. He'd seemed so confident that she'd pick it up quickly and she did, she never mentioned to anyone that Gippal had taught her or that she even understood. She didn't want to loose the fun she had with Gippal as he tried to teach her.

Paine became easily bored after going over the symbols with Shinra a few times, he was a good teacher but she learnt a lot faster when Gippal had taught her. "How long are we gonna be stranded here for?" Asked buddy with a hand on his hip, it was obvious that he too was bored of just sitting around waiting to arrive.

"Don't ask me I'm just a kid." Shinra stated as he turned back round to sit in his seat. Paine stayed close the desk as Shinra worked at updating his information. She found herself easily distracted from that point on during the flight from Djose Temple to the Bikanel Desert. She willingly let her eyes wander around the bridge, carefully studying her friend's movements and behaviour. Yuna had settled near the far stairs with Tidus, whom Paine assumed had been dragged along for the ride. They both looked like they were happy just to be back with each other. Rikku was in her seat along with Brother and Buddy, Brother and Rikku were shouting back and forth to one another while buddy held his hands over his ears, singing loudly to try and drown out the noise of the other two. Their flight was not particularly long and it was hard to understand why so many of them had become so bored so easily. Never the less they arrived safely, and in one piece, at the Eastern expense of the desert dig sites.

Nooj and Baralai greeted everyone as they walked off the Celsius; Gippal however, was nowhere to be seen. Paine was the last to leave the airship and maintained her posture as Nooj approached to welcome her. "Maybe this really is fate?" He questioned as she raised an eyebrow.

"Or maybe it's just called Yuna." She suggested as she walked past him with little in the way of kind words to offer him and only a brief glare to offer Yuna. Baralai bowed respectfully her and she nodded in acknowledgement of his presence.

"We regret to inform you that you stay here may be extended more than Gippal first planned." Baralai's voice was so soothing that it was hard to be angry at the bad news but some of them managed to do so regardless.

"So how long will we be here for?" The question was asked by a previously silent Tidus.

"We don't really . . ." Baralai was cut off by Nooj.

"We estimate with the time required for each dig and the current population of fiends and casualties . . . almost three months."

"Three months?" Paine spoke with an obvious distaste for the information she had just been given.

"But its sooo long!" Rikku stated as she let her arms dangle in the air as dead weight.

"Hey I thought I recognized that voice." Gippal yelled to the group as he approached from the hover that had just landed behind them. "Cid's little girl!" He ruffled her hair as he walked past the younger girl.

"Hey how many times do I gotta tell ya? I have a name!" She moaned as she straightened out her ruffled hair and held her head like it was about to explode. Paine couldn't help but be amused at Rikku's annoyance with her nickname.

"So why does everyone look so unhappy?" He asked as he swung his arms around his body while he raised one leg up to rest against the other. Paine shook her head, it was an action he'd always done and she always thought it made him look like a really feminine dancer, she'd told him so too but it never stopped him.

"They just got the bad news!" answered Baralai and Nooj in unison.

"Hurt time!" stated Yuna and Paine as they moved together, forcing Gippal to the floor as he yelled out for help.

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A/N: No flames, please. Ok well hopefully that's improved this chapter quite a bit, I'll get round to the next chapter either tomorrow or after Christmas. 


	2. I'm bleeding not dying!

A/N: I'm going to post the first chapter again hopefully, at some point this week,with the breakers I intended to put in to start with. A little bit of Gippal and Paine 'love' in the later part of this chapter. I was happy to see that I wasn't the only Paine & Gippal fan so I took after the examples of some authors and write this.

Thanks to everyone that review and I've found a translator as a consequence, so thank you.

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Paine sighed heavily from her watch post, the night's air sending a shiver down her spine. She had been assigned to baby sit Baralai and Gippal as they played in the sand, all she had done for the day was lean against a hover and run over whenever a fiend attacked. Even the fiends here provided little distraction from her discontent at being close to her former comrades.

She kicked the sands beneath her feet trying to pass the time as the dig drew to an end. As she lifted her foot to kick the sand once more she noticed a pebble shaking against the ground, eventually the vibrations made it to her and she held out her arms to stay on her feet. "Baralai? Gippal? Did you guys feel something?"

"Paine? What's up?" You sound worried.

"The ground shook." She steadied herself once more as the ground moved again. "You should get back to the hover." She warned.

"Paine, stop worrying about it we've almost got this part."

"You can come back for the part you can't come back for your heads!" She yelled as a shadow threatened their safety from over the dunes. "Just come back now, we **have** to leave."

"Lnyb!" (Crap) Was the last she heard from Gippal.

She jumped into the pilot seat in the hover, prepping it for a get away, a quick one if she was going to have anything to do with it. Leaping down and into the sand again she raised herself to come face to face with Baralai.

"He says he's not coming till he's got the piece."

"Yccruma!" (Asshole) She thumped her wrists on the hover. Leaning against it she stared at the floor.

"Do you want me to go back for him?" She ignored Baralai's voice as a dark shadow moved over them, lifting her head from the ground she looked towards the sky as a large fiend passed over head. Shoving Baralai towards the hover she screamed back to him as she ran.

"Get in the hover . . . if I'm not back in five minuets get Gippal and leave without me!"

"But Paine you can't beat that thing!"

"What do you want me to do leave Gippal for dead?"

"Paine . . . you- . . .Pa- . . ." She ignored Baralai's fading voice as she tore the microphone from her clothes.

She stumbled in the sand as she tried to keep up with the fiend, rolling back to her feet she continued to run alongside it. She noted how focused it seemed on Gippal as he continued to dig oblivious to the threat approaching. As she glanced once more to the fiend she recognised it from the excavations she had done with Yuna, a body with two flailing arms that almost appeared to have a mind of their own. It was only as she continually glanced back and forth that she noticed it wasn't exactly the same, machina seemed to wrap its way around every available part of the fiend. No doubt strengthening it and significantly raising it's defence.

She pushed her legs faster as they finally reached Gippal. She had to get there before the fiend, she just had to. "Gippal! Suja ouin ycc!" (Move your ass) Her shouts seemed to go unheard by Gippal as she dove at him. They rolled in the sand becoming separated by the force of the impact. Gippal was the first to stand, brushing the sand off him he glared at Paine as she pushed the upper half of her body off the ground.

"Paine, what the . . ." He stopped in his stride as the huge fiend towered over Paine as she tried to rise to her feet. "**Paine**!" His hand was held outstretched to the air as he watched a snake like arm whipping through the air and straight for Paine.

She quickly drew her blade as the arm came for her; she shut her eyes as the blade sliced through the scales and machina. As the dismembered half fell to the floor the fiend flailed the remaining half in pain. She breathed heavily as she tried to stand, wincing as she realised she had fallen on something sharp after driving at Gippal. She closed her eyes to try and banish the pain as she lifted her sword once more to try and defend herself against the raging fiend. The other arm made contact with her and she was swept along the sand. A deep red stained the sand around her body as blood flowed freely from her side. "Paine!" Gippal's cries, as well as the sound of his weapon firing, were the last things she could remember as she allowed the darkness to engulf her.

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She heard yells from around her as her eyelids battered open, light streamed from the gaps in the tent. _But it was night, GIPPAL! _Her mind screamed as she tried to sit up. She stopped half way wincing in pain as she rested her weight on the opposite arm. "Paine you have to lie down and rest." Baralai's voice was followed by a gentle hand pushing her down against the bed.

"Where's Gippal? What happened out there?" Baralai guided her back to the bed once more as she tried to bolt upright.

"Gippal's fine you were the worst off. He's been up for some time now."

"How long have I been out?"

"About two days, your body just needed time to recover you took some serious damage Yuna couldn't heal you properly, the skin over it should hold though. Your body has to do the rest." She studied Baralai's face and continued to wonder why he looked so concerned.

"Is there anything else?"

"No."

"Then why are you looking at me like I'm going to die?" She paused as he looked away, "I'm not am I?"

"No, no, that's not it. It's just Gippal was in here all the time, he, he's . . . feeling guilty." Paine could sense the lie in Baralai's words. He never could lie all that well.

"Sure guilty, come on Baralai we both know he doesn't even no how to so much as say the word in his own language never mind the rest of Spira's." She cocked an eyebrow, "It was just an 'unfortunate event', right?"

"Ok he did say that." She smirked in satisfaction as Baralai rolled his eyes.

The tent door was wept open and Rikku skipped into the room. "I thought I heard voices." She said as she wiggled her finger at the both and acted suspicious. When she saw Baralai's hands still resting on Paine's shoulders she as smiled as she nudged Baralai. "Oh-h, am I interrupting something?"

Baralai laughed with a bit of embarrassment while Paine glare at Rikku's childish manner, it was Yuna who save it becoming a dangerous or even more embarrassing event as she stepped into the tent.

"Your up." Paine glared at Baralai.

"I wouldn't use those words, perhaps just your eyes are open it's about all I'm allowed to do." Yuna swayed as she looked onto the kneeling Baralai and Paine.

"Don't they look sweet?" Rikku commented as she shuffled over to Yuna. The pair exchanged a small giggle before Paine leapt up at them, pushing Baralai out of the way in the process. "Eep!" Rikku jumped into the air before scrambling out of the tent followed by Yuna and a furious Paine.

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Paine paused as she reached outside the tent; she grabbed her side as pain shot through it. A small red stain began to seep through the bandaging. She lifted her hand to see that it had run through to her hand, blood dripped off her stained skin as she held her side tightly. Collapsing to the floor she knelt down, using the sand to support her as she gripped her side.

"Paine?" Gippal was the first to notice her fall to the floor and he was quick to run to her as Yuna and Rikku both turned back. She swatted away his hands as he tried to help her from the floor. "You're meant to be resting." His voice was filled with concern as more blood began to drip through her fingers.

"I'm bleeding not dying!" She answered as she lifted herself to her feet. He kept his hands around her to catch her should she fall. "I don't need a nanny!" She snapped as she shoved his hands away from her.

"No but you obviously need someone with a little more discipline than Baralai to keep you resting." She rolled her eyes at what was about to come next, "I vote that it should be me!"

Rikku fell to the floor in a giggle of fits as Yuna looked at him with a questioning expression. Baralai, who had heard what had been said from inside the tent, was also giving him the same look as Yuna. "What? I can do it!" He stated innocently.

"Sure . . . 50 gil says she'll have killed you before the week ends." Nooj said as he approached the chattering group.

"Don't I get a say in this?" Asked Paine as she leant against the tent.

"Nope!" Gippal stated as he stared at Paine while rubbing his chin. "I think this ones going to need more attention that I first thought! I'll just have to spend my every waking hour attending to her!"

"I'm going to hurt you so much when I can move properly again!" Warned Paine as Gippal held her by the shoulders guiding her into the tent.


End file.
